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BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Hypnosis can help alleviate the pain and
suffering experienced by women being treated for breast cancer,
according to a study by a University at Buffalo School of Social
Work professor.

The randomized trial measured pain and suffering, frequency of
pain and degree of constant pain among 124 women with metastatic
breast cancer, according to Lisa D. Butler, associate professor in
UB's School of Social Work, a faculty member in the Buffalo Center
for Social Research and first author of the study.

Researchers recorded levels of pain at four-month intervals for
a year. Women who were assigned to the treatment group received
group psychotherapy, as well as instruction and practice in
hypnosis to moderate their pain symptoms. They reported
"significantly less increase in the intensity of pain and suffering
over time," compared with a control group, who did not receive the
group psychotherapy intervention.

However, those using hypnosis reported no significant reduction
in the frequency or constancy of pain episodes.

"The results of this study suggest that the experience of pain
and suffering for patients with metastatic breast cancer can be
successfully reduced with an intervention that includes hypnosis in
a group therapy setting," according to Butler. "These results
augment the growing literature supporting the use of hypnosis as an
adjunctive treatment for medical patients experiencing pain."

The study was published last year in an issue of the American
Psychological Association journal Health Psychology.

The researchers also found that, within the treatment group,
those patients who could be hypnotized more easily -- a group the
researchers said demonstrated "high hypnotizability" -- reported
greater benefits from hypnosis. These patients used hypnosis more
overall, including outside of the group sessions, and in some cases
used it to address other symptoms related to their cancer.

"These results suggest that although hypnosis is not at present
standard practice for treating a wide range of symptoms that
trouble cancer patients, it is worth examining that potential,"
Butler says. "Together, these findings suggest that there may be a
number of benefits to the use of hypnosis in cancer care including,
but not necessarily limited to, its more traditional application
for pain control."

Butler joined the UB faculty in January 2009, after doing
research at Stanford University's School of Medicine. She was hired
at UB to strengthen the university's research focus on "extreme
events" as part of the UB 2020 strategic planning initiative. She
recently published a nationally recognized study on how some people
living through an extremely traumatic event – including the
9/11 terrorist attacks -- have the ability to recover or even grow
in personal and interpersonal functioning.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public
university, a flagship institution in the State University of New
York system and its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB's
more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through
more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree
programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of
the Association of American Universities.